


hidden behind the mask

by unknown20troper



Series: Short Temple Fics! [7]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Angst, Character Study, M/M, Pining, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 10:38:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14913809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknown20troper/pseuds/unknown20troper
Summary: Temple thinks about the Reds and Blues' decision to go against him.





	hidden behind the mask

He had been so sure that Tucker would understand, that he'd see what the Freelancers had done to all of their lives. That they all would, that all the Reds and Blues would, but... something about Tucker's rejection, something other than the directness of it, stung more than Simmons' and Caboose's and... he wasn't actually sure if Lopez had set himself against him, honestly. Sure, he had went with Tucker, Simmons and Caboose into that room and been fired off into space, but... how much of that even was his own choice, when it came down to it? Did Lopez really side with the Freelancers or was he just used by them?

He had no idea. And if Lopez happened to disrupt his plans again, it wouldn't matter whether he chose to or not. The Freelancers had to die, the UNSC had to die. No way around it.

He had thought that Tucker understood that. That Tucker, if given the option of taking down Project Freelancer, would choose it. That he would stop posing for photo ops with the people who destroyed his life, and set out to ruin them instead.

And he'd thought...

He'd thought that maybe, maybe, just maybe... he could love Tucker. That maybe, maybe, just maybe... he was starting to.

The way Tucker fought, the way he had believed everything he'd said, how easily they'd gotten along... Something about that had thrilled him, gave him hope, had begun to fill a hole in his heart he believed he would remain empty forever. And Tucker was attractive. He wasn't Biff, he could never be Biff, but for the first time... that didn't really matter. Not that he did anything - it felt kind of wrong, liking someone that much and in that way when the man he loved was dead and still needed avenging - but... if he'd gotten the chance, maybe, after it all was over, he'd have done something. Found out whether Tucker actually was better at loving than fighting.

But, when Tucker saw the true Temple, saw who he really was... he had left. The way Temple had always feared people would, ever since he was a child, ever since he'd realized that his parents wanted perfection out of him and most of the kids at school thought he was a nerd (and thought about the same of gay people as they did of nerds) and Biff liked girls. The reason was different, very different, but it was the same old song.

No one wanted the real Temple. No one ever saw him as he was, and decided they wanted that. They always found something wrong with him. Something about him they just couldn't take. Some reason to consider him a monster.

So he hid. Behind cliches and masks and lairs and Shakespeare. Behind ideals and rage and banter. He hid, often successfully, and people learnt to like the masks he used. But never the real him. Never the real him. Who, honestly, Temple didn't like much himself.

He had wanted more from his best friend than he was getting, and he couldn't do the one thing he had asked him for. He got all enamoured with a pretty, famous face with fighting skills, and actually thought he might have a chance with him. He tried so hard to be chill, to not let his feelings slip out, but whenever things got too intense, he couldn't stop himself from letting them out. Honestly, the only thing he had going for him was that he had a sense of justice, that he knew wrong when he saw it and tried his best to right it, but even that, even that, even that, scared people away. And set Tucker against him. His one real, true virtue, and yet... still... it wasn't enough.

People still preferred the mask. And Temple couldn't bring himself to fault them for it.


End file.
